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Xhevat Lloshi
Standard Albanian — linguistic controversy in post-Communist Albania
The status of Albanian as a national standard has become a matter of serious debate. In 1972 Standard Albanian (SA) was adopted in public communications and in schools. But after the political changes in Albania in 1991–1992 the language question was reopened, calling into question the SA. The roots of the present-day debate are to be found in the dialectal division of Albanian, the historical establishment of a number of written varieties, and the standardization achieved during the years of the Communist regime. This article describes how Standard Albanian was established and the recent developments. For the future it poses the question: Will there be one Albanian national identity, or two Albanian national identities? The answer is that Albanians already have a good standard language, though with many problems, of course, and much work needs to be done for its enrichment and improvement, but Albanians have no need to create a new standard, or to undergo a glosso-ectomy.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 0165-2516
Volume: 2006, 02/2006
Pages: 93 - 101